The present invention relates to an aquarium heating system that utilizes a conductive coating on an aquarium glass viewing window to produce heat. A specific, preferred application of the present invention is to heat the water contained within the aquarium without the use of a submergible heater used currently today.
The invention further relates to an aquarium heating system that measures the heat of the water within the aquarium, compares the temperature with a preset, desired water temperature, and compensates for any differences between the desired temperature and the actual temperature by either causing electrical current to flow or not flow through the conductive glass coating.
Present aquarium heating systems utilize a simple thermostatically controlled heating coil which is typically encapsulated in a glass tube which is then submerged in the water. The heater is usually located near a rear corner of the aquarium, held in place by plastic clips or some sort of clamping device.
A disadvantage of this kind of heater is that the heat is not equally distributed throughout the aquarium because the heat is imparted to the water at a single location. Because heat travels radially from the center of the heater, the water (and fish) closer to the element experience a higher temperature than elsewhere in the tank. This produces an unwanted temperature gradient.
The large amount of tank space occupied by this type of glass enclosed heater represents a further disadvantage of currently available aquarium heaters. This disadvantage becomes most apparent with the smaller five gallon aquariums.
Many species of fish, especially tropical fish, require an elevated (above typical room ambient temperature) water temperature, thus necessitating some sort of water heating system. To date, these systems are expensive ($10 to $30) and aesthetically unacceptable.